Contents

Story Summary

As sea creatures gang up on the landlubbers of Skylands and the mermaids of Last Chance Cove abandon their underwater kingdom, Gill Grunt embarks on an incredible adventure. From the pen of Onk Beakman, based on the smash hit Skylanders video game, "Gill Grunt and the Curse of the Fish Master" is the second novel in the hilarious, enthralling "Mask of Power" series.[1]

Story

The story starts with a pirate chef named Gut-Rot preparing food for his captain, Grimslobber, on board a pirate ship called the Fearsome Fang. Suddenly the crabs he was about to add as the food's ingredient suddenly attacked Gut-Rot, forcing him to abandon ship with the crustaceans jumping after him. Despite the loss of his chief chef, Captain Grimslobber asked his crew if they want take-out...

Elsewhere, Gill Grunt gazed upon the newly repaired walls of the Eternal Archives after the Skylanders' battle with Kaos in the previous adventure. The Gillman was about to sing a song about their accomplishment, only for some of the Skylanders to make desperate actions to avoid hearing Gill Grunt's horrible singing. Spyro then called Gill Grunt over to the halls of the Archives so that he and the Gillmen could look into the Book of Power with Master Eon, Hugo, and Wiggleworth.

Spyro with Gill Grunt, Master Eon, Hugo, and Wiggleworth looking into the Book of Power.

The two Skylanders were horrified to see a vision in the book showing the Core of Light destroyed and darkness swarming the skies. They saw a glimpse of the Mask of Power, an evil artifact created by a group of Spell Punks that was scattered across Skylands by the old Portal Masters long ago into eight pieces hidden in objects that were completely opposite to the fragments. Realizing that Kaos had already found the Tech fragment and wanted to reassemble the Mask to use the it to destroy the Core of Light, Spyro and Gill Grunt became determined to find the rest of the fragment before the evil Portal Master does.

Master Eon was able to find the location of the next fragment from the Book of Power and sent Gill Grunt to Deep Water Wasteland to locate it, while Spyro stayed behind with Master Eon. Once there, Gill Grunt ventured into a bar filled with pirates and unintentionally enraged a Squiddler, who was about to gang up on the Gillmen with his crewmates. Before a fight broke out, a rampaging Cloud Kraken smashed the bar to smithereens, and despite Gill Grunt's attempts to calm the supposedly docile sea creature, it was about to eat the Gillman alive.

Zap and Wham-Shell quickly came to the rescue and saved Gill Grunt from the clutches of the Cloud Kraken. The Water Skylanders attempted to stop the beast's rampage, but they only caused the Cloud Kraken to turn its blind fury upon the nearby Fearsome Fang and its crew. The ship's captain, Grimslobber, mysteriously scared off the Cloud Kraken without having to do a thing, confusing Gill Grunt, Zap, and Wham-Shell as the pirates praised their captain for his bravery. Although Gill Grunt didn't want any trouble with Grimslobber and his band of pirates after the captain called the Gillman names, Zap's curiosity about the mentioning of treasure accidentally blurted out by one of the pirates prompted the seemingly friendly Grimslobber to surround the Water Skylanders with his crew and attack them. Gill Grunt, Zap, and Wham-Shell narrowly escaped the Fearsome Fang and dove into the safety of the sea, leaving Grimslobber to swear vengeance.

The Water Skylanders then hear from Spyro that Kaos was after the Water Fragment as well and somehow already knew where to look for it. Gill Grunt quickly lead his fellow Water Skylanders to the Kingdom of the Merpeople, knowing that the merpeople, who have swam the waters for thousands of years, would know the location of the fragment. The Skylanders discovered the kingdom was deserted, with only the elderly, children, King Scalebeard, Prince Aquan, and Princess Finella still within the kingdom's barrier. Suddenly Prince Aquan and Princess Finella fell under a strange trance and swam out of the kingdom along with several other merfolk with the Skylanders in hot pursuit to see where they were going.

Zap helping Gill Grunt and Wham-Shell catch up to the hypnotized merfolk.

During the chase, Wham-Shell mysteriously had fallen under a spell and turned on Gill Grunt and Zap, capturing Zap and dragging the nearly unconscious water dragon into a cave where the hypnotized merfolk went into. Gill Grunt soon managed to get inside and discovered that Wham-Shell and the merfolk were being controlled by Captain Grimslobber, who was using the Fish Master's Crown, an artifact that allows the wearer to have control over any creature of the sea, to enslave the merpeople and force them to haul out gem-eels and ship them to the surface where Grimslobber would become rich. Other sea creatures, including the docile Cloud Kraken that attacked the inhabitants of Deep Water Wasteland were also under the curse of the Crown because of Grimslobber.

Gill Grunt soon fell under the control of the Fish Master's Crown and began helping Grimslobber dig up and haul the gem-eels along with the other hypnotized merfolk. With the help of a captured Zap, the Gillman was able to break free of the curse, causing Grimslobber to lose control over a portion of the merpeople and Wham-Shell when trying to regain his control over Gill Grunt. During the confusion, which resulted in the gem-eels getting freed, Grimslobber lost his hold on the Crown and it shattered into pieces, fully freeing the merfolk. As the pirate captain made a hasty retreat, Gill Grunt hung onto the diving bell Grimslobber was in and cronfronted the captain and his crew on board the Fearsome Fang. With the help of the freed merfolk, Zap, Wham-Shell, and even Spyro the Dragon, the Gillman bested Grimslobber and his pirate crew.

Defeated, Grimslobber claimed that he would change his ways, but instead pulled out a pistol to kill Gill Grunt. He missed the shot when the merfolk tilted the ship, and Gill Grunt attempted to save Grimslobber (who couldn't swim) from falling overboard, only to see the Cloud Kraken swallow the captain whole. Kaos then revealed his presence, having recovered the pieces of the broken Fish Master's Crown that supposedly contained the Water Fragment. After taunting the Skylanders by dumping fish on them, the evil Portal Master made his leave but not before sinking the Fearsome Fang, causing Spyro, Gill Grunt, Zap, and Wham-Shell to quickly escape off of Grimslobber's sinking ship via portal.

Back at the Eternal Archives, it seemed thatthe Skylanders had failed their mission to retrieve the Water Fragment. Gill Grunt checked Grimslobber's satchel he brought back with him and held a dirty rag the captain had used to wrap the Fish Master's Crown. The rag soon revealed itself to be the Water Fragment, making the Skylanders realize that Kaos had stolen nothing more than a worthless broken crown. Knowing that Kaos would be after the next fragment to the Mask of Power, Gill Grunt and Spyro both knew that the Skylanders would be ready for him...